Citing condition called ‘ducting,’ CBS affiliate in Salisbury, Md...
Citing condition called “ducting,” CBS affiliate in Salisbury, Md., WBOC-TV (Ch. 16), said new PBS DTV station in Hampton Roads, Va., WHRO-DT (Ch. 16, PBS) was causing interference to its analog signal, even 150 miles from latter’s transmitter. In…
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emergency request to FCC to suspend high-power operations of Hampton-Norfolk station, WBOC-TV said WHRO-DT had “dramatically underestimated the level of interference” it would cause to analog signal, resulting in “severe impairment” of both over-air reception and reception at cable headends as far away as Dover and Milford, Del. Part of problem, it said, is “ducting,” in which passage of TV signal over large bodies of water, such as Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean, allows signals to “travel much further, without significant attenuation, than they would under normal conditions.” WBOC-TV said problem became most apparent when WHRO-DT switched to 950 kw power level in 3rd week of April, up from originally authorized 113.5 kw, and with antenna at 360.6 m, up from original 294 m. WHRO-DT had estimated that higher power and antenna would cause “de minimis” 0.9% increase in interference, leading FCC to approve increase.